ZebraPleco.com • The complete Hypancistrus zebra resource

Hi,

Have a look at my tank setup and let me have your thoughts. My zebs has been in the tank for 2 days now, but instead of hiding in the caves they are hiding under the rocks

Thanks
Laracroft

Your zebs will hide were ever they feel the most comfortable.
My zebs usually hide under slate, rocks & bogwood & sometimes leave caves empty.
They will usually use caves & prefer tight fitting caves when they are more mature.

The floor of the xingu is primerily made up of rounded rocks, crevises and a sandy substrate, allowing Hypancistrus zebra to travel throughout it's territory under cover from preditors.

From http://www.zebrapleco.com/core/zebra_pleco_habitat.php

TwoTankAmin wrote:

The floor of the xingu is primerily made up of rounded rocks, crevises and a sandy substrate, allowing Hypancistrus zebra to travel throughout it's territory under cover from preditors.

From http://www.zebrapleco.com/core/zebra_pleco_habitat.php

thanks but this does not help me much, these zebs have never seen the river Xingu, so hence my question for feedback on my tank setup.

Actually it should help a lot. Especially the part that says: "allowing Hypancistrus zebra to travel throughout it's territory under cover from preditors"

What that means is that these fish normally are able to move around without having to break cover. They do not have to come out in the open. The inverse of this means that open spaces are less desirable for these fish. Just like schooling fish naturally stay together, zebras have a natural aversion to being out in the open. It is true that F1 fish will not be quite as skittish, but they will still tend to spend the vast majority of their time under cover.

This is how my main breeder tank looked a few years back (sorry the photo is poor)-


In the end how one sets up a tank is up to the fish keeper. My preference for my zebras, since I encourage them to spawn, has always been to make them feel as safe as possible in order to facilitate this. I also normally keep them in species tanks. I have to admit that this means the tanks are not often great display tanks and boy are they more work to clean and even more work to catch get fish. You have to break down the tank completely to get a head count of the adults or to remove fry.

Like tta said you should create as many hiding places as you can.
Make sure everything is well placed though, you don't want decoration
falling on top of your fish.

My tank is a hodge podge of random nooks and crannies. I watch for what they like and then add more structures like it.
Your tank looks fine to me!